WIX Archives
Re: Steve Hinton and Failsworth Fireflies - Spencer Flack
Posted by Ron Henry on Mon Nov 04, 2002 12:33:31 PM
In reply top Re: Steve Hinton and Failsworth Fireflies - Spencer Flack posted by PeterA on Fri Nov 01, 2002 03:53:43 PM
: In July 1979 I flew up to Manchester with Spencer Flack to
: inspect and negotiate on, from memory, half a dozen Griff
: on 74's from these Firefly sections. These were to be the
: core engines for both NH904 the 'Red Spitfire' and some of
: the Indian Spitfires that were coming on stream at that t
: ime. Although the induction system was not compatible and
: the reduction gear ratio different there was enough common
: ality for them to be used in conjunction and combined with
: low grade 60 series engines for Spitfire installation. Da
: ve Zeuschal in California was the principal engine builder
: at that time prepared to undertake Griffon overhaul for t
: hese Spitfires. Using these parts and possibly Shackleton
: or more likely a Griffon 80 series reduction gear set for
: the contra prop, he created the power unit for the famous
: Red Baron Griffon Mustang. These were early days for priva
: tely owned Griffon Spitfires.
: As for the Firefly front ends. The engines were 'gas axed'
: from the structure at the bearer to save time, taking wit
: h them most of the cowlings and power egg. I seem to remem
: ber a large pile of discarded bits in Spencer's garden at
: one time. As for the cockpit sections, the lady owner of t
: he yard was just impossible to negotiate with sensibly and
: I think she would rather scrap the parts rather then let
: them go at 'market' price - and they were in the main scra
: pped. Apart from the Fireflies in the scrapyard the real g
: ems were in an old mill in Manchester(?) along with an equ
: al number of Balliols. I have the photos somewhere. More i
: mportant at that time was the record breaking Swift, the B
: rigand and all the Hornet parts, centre setion etc. Ahh!
:
....the lady owner of the yard..... IIRC, Mrs. Moran? Never met her in person, but spoke on the phone a few times. She was fairly peculiar, to put it mildly. This was 20+ yrs ago. It wasn't helped by the attitude of my friend with whom I was in league: I can't remember now what he wanted to get his hands on, but he wanted to keep his primary objective invisible to her as far as possible, and the (ultimately unsuccessful) dealings were simultaneously fairly confusing and amusing, as I recall! I also visited the derelict mill in Manchester. It contained such a jumbled mess of scrapped aircraft that, after the passage of time, I can't quite rememember what types I identified. I do remember seeing some new, boxed, Cheetah pistons!
: : : Hi all,
: : :
: : : During the eighties there were at least four forward f
: us
: : el
: : : ages in the famour Failsworth scrap yard in the UK.
: : :
: : : One of these was obtained by a collector and as far as
: I
: : k
: : : now was restored and put on display at the Manchester
: Ai
: : r
: : : & Space Museum. I also know that Griffon engines were
: bo
: : ug
: : : ht by several American collectors for racing engines.
: : :
: : : But what happened to the other forward fuselages. Were
: t
: : he
: : : se scrapped or also saved for restoration?
: : :
: : : Any ideas?
: : :
: : : Cees
: :
: :
: : Steve beat his some of his fellow countrymen to it. He c
: ol
: : lected some Griffons from there c 1975-77 ..... remember
: T
: : he Red Baron?
: :
: : Ron